‘I’ve experienced more than 70 executions’

Four decades is a long time to serve in an organisation. But according to Albert Brown, executive superintendent and director of security at the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), the time seems shorter when you are doing what you love.

“I’ve always wanted to serve,” the 61-year-old told The Gleaner, just minutes after being awarded for his long service at the state organisation in a ceremony held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston on Thursday.

Brown was the only employee with 40 years of service under his belt.

The St Ann native said he joined the DCS straight out of high school, when he was just 19 years old and “barely had a beard”.

He was first stationed at the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre, where he worked as a correctional officer.

He steadily moved up the ranks to superintendent B, the second in command at the centre. He also established the centre’s first patrol team, a set of officers responsible for emergency matters such as fights, escapes, and attempted escapes.

Brown’s most poignant memories working at the Spanish Town-based institution involve witnessing the execution of prisoners.

“I have experienced over 70 inmates who were executed, “ he said of 32 years at the correctional facility. “Sometimes it was difficult, knowing that you had worked with them. Some of them were disciplined during their time on death row, and to know that they are executed shortly after [was painful] … but we have to uphold the law,” he said.

In 2013, Brown was transferred to the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in Kingston. After spending two years there, he was promoted to superintendent B.

Four years later, his expertise in security and security management was sought at the Horizon Correctional Centre, and within just a few months, he was again promoted to his current post of superintendent and director of security in the DCS.

Over the years, Brown took advantage of numerous training opportunities to upskill himself, including attending the International Law Enforcement Academy in New Mexico in the United States.

But his greatest joy, he revealed, comes from sharing his knowledge and expertise with his colleagues.

“I teach security at the training school as a lecturer in security methods,” he shared. “I try to share whenever I learn something new. I love to share it; the more I share with my colleagues, the more I remember them.”

And as he looks forward to retirement and spending more time with his wife and two daughters in a few years, Brown is hoping that the discipline which he worked to maintain among staff and inmates will remain strong within the DCS. He is also anticipating a time when the DCS will be equipped with enough resources to properly carry out its mandate of rehabilitating convicts.

“I would like to know that when a person is checked, if he is unable to read, then he should be able to go to school. If he can read and is in need of a skill, then you should find out which of the skills he would prefer to have,” he told The Gleaner. “It makes no sense forcing a person into a skill they don’t want to have.”

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com